


eighty-eight dates

by stansrichie



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Bisexual Richie Tozier, F/M, Fluff, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, M/M, Mild Language, Multi, Richie Tozier is a Little Shit, soft bois
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 06:24:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15504246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stansrichie/pseuds/stansrichie
Summary: a modern au where richie and eddie meet at the fair.





	eighty-eight dates

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: i honestly forgot i even wrote this, but once i found it in my notes, i just knew i had to post it ugh! i hope you guys enjoy this mess of a story, and please leave a comment if you do!
> 
> also, check out more of my work on my tumblr @stansrichie ! ((and give feedback/reblog some stuff if you enjoy it?? maybe??))

“Come on, Eddie,” Beverly whined, pulling Eddie by the wrist through the crowds of people at the annual Derry Fair. “Just ride this one rollercoaster with us, and you can sit out for the rest of them if you want. I promise.”

Eddie shook his head. He was way too stubborn, and absolutely hated the bigger rides since he claimed they triggered his asthma. “You guys know I don’t like those rides. Go ahead and I’ll be here when you all get back,” he shrugged, pulling his arm out of Beverly’s grip and taking a seat on the bench outside the exit of the ride.

“Are you sure? I mean, we don’t want you sitting out here alone,” Mike chimed in. He was always the most caring of the four of them. Eddie nodded his head, sending a warm smile to Mike. After a few more minutes of useless arguing, Beverly, Mike, and Bill hopped in line for the ride.

Over twenty minutes had passed and not only had the line barely moved, but Eddie was going absolutely _nuts_ without anything to do since his phone was nearly dead. He could tell that his friends didn’t plan on skipping the ride either because they started talking to two other guys that looked about their age.

* * *

 

“Fuck this,” Eddie mumbled to himself, sliding his phone in his pocket and standing up from the bench. He started walking around the fairgrounds to look for something he could do while he waited and noticed that the line for the ferris wheel was fairly short. He got in line and waited until it was his turn to board the ride, handing off his two tickets and climbing inside the cart. He was just about to close the door on the ride when a large hand blocked it from closing.

“Woah there, partner. Mind if I take a seat?” asked an unfamiliar voice, attempting what Eddie could only guess was a terrible cowboy impression.

Eddie looked up and saw who was probably the most beautiful person he’d ever seen in his life. He had long curly, black, hair, about a thousand freckles, and wore ginormous, thick-framed glasses.

Eddie realized he was staring for way too long and shook his head, snapping himself out of whatever trance he was in. “Um, yeah, sure.”

The boy, who was incredibly tall compared to Eddie, got inside the cart beside him and closed the latch door. “I’m Richie. Richie Tozier,” he said, extended his hand out for Eddie to shake. A goofy smile played on his lips and for some reason this made Eddie feel a little less awkward than he initially did. He was also grateful that Richie hadn’t said anything about his accidental staring, and wondered if he noticed at all.

“Eddie Kaspbrak,” Eddie replied, raising an eyebrow and shaking Richie’s hand hesitatingly.

“Eddie? That’s a long name,” Richie chuckled. At first, Eddie thought he might’ve been joking around, but no. He was being completely serious.

“Y-you’re joking, right?” Eddie asked, looking up at the taller boy with utter confusion written on his face. “Your name is literally longer than min-“

“Can I call you ‘Eds’ for short?” Richie cut him off. “It kinda suits you better, ya know. You’re short, and the name ‘Eds’ is short too.”

“What the fuck? No, you can’t call me that, we literally just met, and Eddie is already short for Edward.” Eddie held back a sarcastic laugh, thinking he might’ve already been a little too abrasive, but that thought was shoved out of his head when Richie started laughing obnoxiously loud, gaining the attention of a few other people riding the ferris wheel as the ride started moving upwards.

“Whatever you say, _Eds_ ,” Richie said, putting just enough emphasis on the new nickname to piss Eddie off. “Whatcha doin' at the fair all by yourself, cutie?”

“I said don’t call me that... and I'm not cute,” Eddie scoffed, crossing his arms and frowning. “I’m not all by myself, my friends are riding a rollercoaster and I hate rollercoasters.”

“Hmm. Well, I think you're pretty fucking adorable,” Richie hummed, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and taking one out. He pulled out a lighter right after and looked over at Eddie for permission. “You mind?”

“Yeah, actually, I do mind. Are you insane? Not only are we on a ferris wheel, but that shit is cancer wrapped in paper and I’ll be fucked if I get secondhand smoke from a stranger at the fair,” Eddie said, looked at him as if he were crazy.

Richie chuckled and put his hands up in surrender. He pushed the cigarette back into the carton and put the pack in his pocket, along with the lighter. “I can fuck you right here if you want, though I don’t know how you feel about pda,” he said slyly.

Eddie literally choked at his comment. “Fuck off, I have asthma,” he replied, taking out his inhaler and pumping it a few times for dramatic effect.

Richie started laughing incredibly hard again, which made Eddie start to laugh also. He had just about got his breathing back on track from choking at Richie’s comment when he heard the attendant say that the ride had stopped working..... _And they were stuck at the very top_.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Eddie whispered to himself, already feeling himself start to panic. He could see his three friends down at the bottom of the ferris wheel, obviously a bit worried at the fact that he was stuck on the ride, and also noticed that the two guys that were in line with them were also standing at the bottom.

“Nope, totally not kidding for once,” Richie muttered, coming back up from leaning over the side of the cart to turn and look at Eddie, who was tightly clutching his fanny pack that he hadn’t even noticed until now. Richie would’ve found it incredibly adorable, but at the moment he was more worried that Eddie was gonna pass out more than anything else.

“Hey, you’re okay. I _promise_ , we’re okay,” Richie said softly, placing a hand on Eddie arm to rub it comfortingly. He wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to do so, but he did; and Eddie wasn’t sure why it actually made him feel a little more safe, but it did.

Eddie nodded and looked down at his feet, trying to distract himself from how high up they were, but only made it worse by seeing the ground out of his peripheral vision. Richie noticed this and decided to find a way to distract Eddie until they got the ride working again.

“Look, I wonder how many we can count,” Richie said, pointing up at the stars in the sky. Eddie looked over at Richie, then up at the sky where he was pointing, trying to stop himself from breathing so hard. “Here, I’ll start.”

Richie began counting the stars, starting from one end of the fairground to the other. He pointed as he counted, and soon Eddie started counting along with him.

Eddie had completely forgotten they were up that high after a while of counting, and once they had just hit 88, the ride jolted and they started moving downwards.

“Eighty-eight,” Richie repeated to himself, smiling a little.

Eddie looked over at Richie, already unbuckling his seatbelt since the cart was nearing the ground. “Huh?”

The two of them stepped out, Eddie nearly running out, and made their way to the exit. “I told myself that whatever number we got to before they fixed the ride is however many dates I’d ask you on,” Richie grinned, holding the gate open for Eddie.

“O-Oh,” Eddie stuttered, already feeling his cheeks heat up.

Richie chuckled a little, but started to get a little nervous himself. “So.... wanna go ride again?”

“Fuck no, let’s go play a game instead, or literally do anything that’s on the ground,” Eddie said, shaking his head.

Both Eddie and Richie snapped their heads to the left, seeing their friends approaching them. “Ha! Finally you got what you fucking deserve, asshole,” another curly-headed boy with light hair directed towards Richie.

Beverly, Bill, Mike, and Ben, who Beverly had gushed about over text while Eddie was waiting for them on the bench, were all grinning at the two as they argued. “What’d I get that was so bad, huh, Uris? Eighty-eight dates with Eddie Spaghetti over here?”

“E-eighty-eight dates? _Eddie S-spaghetti_?” Bill asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I literally have no fucking clue who that is or what he’s talking about, let’s go,” Eddie said quickly, locking arms with his friends and trying to pull them away.

“‘Course ya do, Eds, now let’s go play those.... games you were talking about,” Richie smirked, making Eddie’s words out to seem more suggestive than they were.

Eddie let go of his friends and stomped over to Richie instead, fisting the collar of his shirt and pulling him away before he could embarrass the small boy anymore than he already had. He could hear his friends wolf-whistling and cat-calling behind them as they left, and he was positive his face was as red as a tomato.

“So about those dates?” Richie chuckled, finding the entire situation amusing.

Eddie shook his head in disbelief, continuing to pull Richie through the crowds of people at the fair.

“Yeah, you’re fucking paying for all eighty-eight of them.” 


End file.
